Come along with Ricky Stanzi, the accomplished former University of Iowa and NFL quarterback, as he dives into his roots in Mentor, Ohio, the profound impact of his father's mentorship during his formative years, and gain insights into his remarkable playing career at Iowa. Ricky shares compelling stories about his unwavering work ethic, passion for biomechanics, and the significance behind his iconic quote from the Orange Bowl. Today, he serves as the Director of Education at GOATA and Co-Owner of GLS GOATA, dedicated to enhancing movement and achieving pain-free peak performance.
Want to hear more? Check out previous episodes, subscribe & leave a review.
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Come along with Ricky Stanzi, the accomplished former University of Iowa and NFL quarterback, as he dives into his roots in Mentor, Ohio, the profound impact of his father's mentorship during his formative years, and gain insights into his remarkable playing career at Iowa. Ricky shares compelling stories about his unwavering work ethic, passion for biomechanics, and the significance behind his iconic quote from the Orange Bowl. Today, he serves as the Director of Education at GOATA and Co-Owner of GLS GOATA, dedicated to enhancing movement and achieving pain-free peak performance.
Want to hear more? Check out previous episodes, subscribe & leave a review.
APPLE PODCASTS: https://apple.co/32M5E2T
SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/32AyXFq
Connect with Collin:
TWITTER: / collinkushner
INSTAGRAM: / collinkushner
FACEBOOK: / collnkushner
LINKEDIN: / collin-ku. .
PERSONAL WEBSITE: https://linktr.ee/collinkushner
EMAIL: ckushner1@gmail.com
I could not see the feel with a telescope as a freshman. I mean, there was no chance, no chance if you would've told me my freshman year that I was gonna start for three years at this place. There's no way if there's anybody listening that is in a point where they're like, they think that it can't turn around, it can. To have someone like my dad, to have someone like Coach O'Keefe, to have someone like Coach Ferris , to have these people where when there's a decision to be made or there's a behavior to bring out, their ways of talking to you have to be there. They show themselves a little bit. And that's important when you're trying to figure it out, is have something to lean back on. You really learn who you are going through this sort of trial and error, working your way through all these tough situations.
Collin Kushner:Welcome back everybody, to another epic episode of the Heyward You Go podcast. I'm your host Colin Kushner, and we have another exciting guest. It's former University of Iowa and NFL, quarterback Ricky Stanzi. Ricky, I wanted to start from the very beginning. We're gonna kind of weave through your entire life. We're gonna talk about University of Iowa football, the NFL, what you're doing today, which is honestly what I'm most excited to dive into. But before we get to all of that, you were born and raised in Mentor Ohio, which is just outside of Cleveland. What were you like as a kid?
Ricky Stanzi:I mean , a lot like other kids, you know, that are interested in sports. I, I'd say that I'd say sports was sort of the backdrop to my youth and , and kind of where my focus and my energy , um, went. And, and it was just a lot of, you know, football, basketball, baseball. Um, I even did karate growing up, and so it was just a lot of opportunity to compete. And as I got a little bit older and was kind of going through grade school, I started to hone in on football and basketball. And then that kind of led me, you know, obviously to choosing my high school that I had grown up, you know, fourth grade, fifth grade, going to the games Lake Catholic. And it was where I wanted to be and I wanted to play football there. And so kind of, you know, grade school was all about preparing myself in my mind for, for high school and, and then, you know, getting to high school and being able to play , um, you know, football and , and , and basketball with your buddies . So it was just kind of a normal northeast, you know, Midwest type of childhood growing up. Saturday mornings we're watching Big 10 football Sundays were , we're watching the Browns and it was kind of centered around that, you know, sports culture, family culture , um, and you know, just in that competitive arena. My father was a boxer, so he was a golden glove champion in Cleveland. So I always had, I was, I tell people I was raised off the Rocky movies, so I've always kind of had someone in my corner , um, you know, hey, if you want to go attack this thing, if you want to be great , um, I'll help you . And so, you know, outside of the normal things of, you know, action figures, video games, parks, things that you're doing as a kid , um, I, I'd say the one unique thing was , um, I had a father who, who saw that I was interested in something and, and saw that , um, I was willing to work at something and, and my dad did a really good job of kind of, you know, almost a gentle push in that direction and just kind of, it ramped up naturally as I got to high school. So, you know, I can, I look back and it just feels like that those younger years was just a lot of learning how to compete, learning how to be on teams, learning how to be a good leader. Um, and, and all those things really serve me well , um, and still serve me today .
Collin Kushner:Yeah, that's really cool that you, that your dad, you know, was also an athlete and he was, he was able to not force you into something, but to kind of like gradually like push you 'cause he saw that you had the interest and then hone your skills. Like how instrumental was having a figure like that, do you think? And how different, in a sense, do you think your career as an athlete would've been without that?
Ricky Stanzi:Uh , I mean, it's, it's hard to, to play the , you know, the hindsight type of game, but I don't think I would be where I'm at for certain without , um, my father's tutelage. You know, it's like you , you have like the one-on-one time where you're working on an actual skill, like you're throwing the football or you're working on your basketball shot, whatever it may be. But I think the moments where , uh, you know, after a , a tough loss or even after a big win , um, learning how to manage those emotions, it's a lot to ask of a sixth grader or a seventh grader. And it's very helpful when you have someone who has been in a competitive arena , um, who's challenged themselves, who's gone through adversity in some way, shape or form, whether in sports or in life, and they're able to impart some wisdom on you as you go through those moments. So I think that those moments added so much value to how I handled myself or handled adverse situations, which I found myself in. Um, not as much in high school, but early on in sophomore year, you know, it was there, it was a challenge. I don't, I don't think I could've projected myself out to be a division one quarterback as a sophomore, but those things change quickly in high school. Uh, you grow, you get a little bit bigger, you get more confident all of a sudden. Things are different in one year, but most certainly in college , um, there was a rough patch there where, you know, I didn't know if I would, I joke, I don't think I could have seen the field with a telescope as a freshman. And it took me all of two years to really settle in. And then, you know, luckily my third year , um, I, I found an opportunity, but there was a lot of adversity there, there was a lot of times where I needed to kind of like get back, you know, to to that, that mentality of, hey, one day at a time, just compete, keep working, keep getting better at what you need to get better at. Don't focus on other people, don't put blame anywhere else. All that stuff came from my father. So to have that internal dialogue, even when your dad's not there, you're on campus, but you still think like you were told to think and , and you're, you're, you know, responding to those situations , um, better than maybe someone who didn't have that luxury of having the father that's there, that's going to teach you in those tough moments when, you know, you think like everything's down and out. So tho that was crucial to my development, that was crucial to me. Even seeing the field at Iowa and then, you know, being able to have an opportunity to play in the NFL , I don't think that those things are present if I don't have my, my dad there to kind of lead me through those crucial moments. When you're in that grade school and you're learning how to compete, you're learning how to be a leader, you're learning how to be a young man and how to be a good teammate.
Collin Kushner:That's so cool. Ricky. Like, I love, I mean, all those touch points I think are are huge on both on and off the field. And, and of course, the one thing that I I felt resonated was the adversity aspect. Because as you said, like you're gonna have that on the football field, you're gonna have it off the football field, and the , the earlier you begin to understand how to kind of push through and how to kind of have that internal, you know, mind game with yourself , um, and how to persevere, I think it's gonna serve you so well in life. So that , that's really beautiful, man, that you had that opportunity at a young age to, to learn all that and soak that in.
Ricky Stanzi:Yeah, I mean, you know, like I said, raised off the rocky movies that you're gonna get punched, you're gonna get hit in the mouth, like, you know, and that's like a message. It's not to scare you, it's just to prepare you. And that's a real thing that like, it , it it , when you get hit when you're down, how do you respond? Like that was kind of like the big message from Rocky. The big message from my father is like, this adversity will show itself. You have to be this type of character in these moments. It's easy to win, it's tough to lose, you know, and , and , and another thing that my father instilled was , um, there's something to be learned from each opportunity. So whether it was a victory or whether it was a loss, the real gold is what you learn from it afterwards. And so not letting those moments just be a , you know, when you're a young kid and you're in grade school after a win or a loss, what's your first thought? What's the snack? You're not even thinking about, you know, what snack did the parents bring? You're not thinking about like, well, what just happened? Like, what did I just put myself into? And I think it's a really cool thing to, like Jim Zorn provided this , um, perspective for me when I was with the Chiefs, and he was like, you gotta look at competition in a way where like, you're putting yourself out there for judgment. Like you're saying , you're , this is me. I'm under the lights. Like this is who I am. You know, there's, there's room for critique. And so that's a very tough thing for young kids to do, is to get out there on that dance floor, go across those white lines and just let it rip. Like be yourself. And I, that's a challenging thing to talk to a sixth, seventh, and eighth grader about if they're just kind of learning about themselves. And with that comes adversity. And so you have this pairing of, you know, learning to compete and, and learning to kind of grow into your own body. But at the same time, these opportunities for adversity, if you have a great coach, if you have a father, somebody there to capitalize not only on, you know, the excitement of a victory, but the lessons to be learned from the victory. And then if there's a loss, don't just push it to the side, like, or push blame somewhere else, you know, examine it, it's uncomfortable, but examine it. And those were really important things that I learned at a young age.
Collin Kushner:You kind of brought up a fascinating point about like, you're a young kid, you're thrusted under the lights, you have all these people watching you, and then you're supposed to be yourself. And I think like in , in life, that's like, I think the goal is to to be fully and completely true to yourself, but at a young age, especially when you have that judgment compounding on top of it, I think that's what becomes a little bit of a challenge. And that's where that adversity piece, I think kind of comes, comes into play.
Ricky Stanzi:Yeah, you don't really know who you are until you get put in those situations. I know, I know. The , the, the fighting for me, I did a little bit of karate growing up, so I had the opportunity to do like the five years of, of Kempo karate. And the biggest takeaway was we would go to these tournaments and you'd be in a, you know, controlled hand-to-hand combat as a, you know, 5, 6, 7, 8 year old , nine-year-old kid. Um, you're gonna get kicked in the stomach, you know, it's like something's gonna happen. That is, is unusual , um, for that age. But that's, I think the, the moments where you kind of learn who you are. You, you kind of figure out where, which way you want to go. I think that's, you know, you put the kid in the situation, you put 'em in the pressure cooker , um, they make a decision, yes or no, I want this or I don't want this. And I think that there's always, maybe you're kind of in the middle for a second, but if you have that figure, somebody there to be like, Hey, you're okay, you can get through this. It's, it just makes things a little bit easier and you can adjust and grow through those, you know, good times and bad times.
Collin Kushner:After your high school career, you're able to go to the University of Iowa on a football scholarship. Was everyone bummed in town that you didn't become a Buckeye?
Ricky Stanzi:For me, it felt like the recruiting maybe happened a little bit later. You know, the , the bigger schools happened a little bit later for me. Um, junior year I had a lot of max schools showing interest. Um, I was starting to field some offers, kind of, I can't exactly remember when Iowa offered. I remember Coach O'Keefe kind of showing up periodically as I was getting towards, you know, senior year and , um, showing more interests. Michigan State started to show up a little bit. Purdue started to show up. Ohio State came in later. The difference was they had kind of already, they had already brought two QBs in, like two guys that already committed. So it was one of those like, you're not gonna go there. The , that decision was already made, you know, before. So I was kind of had weighed them out. I still had, you know, great conversations with, with Coach Tressel and, and you know, they're a top-notch program, and it's obviously in Ohio growing up , um, the oh one national championship game, like we had a party in our basement, you know, that was one of my favorite seasons as a football fan, just to watch, you know, big 10 Ball. But I think the Big 10 was the high level overview for me. You know, I , I watched Big 10 football growing up every Saturday morning. That was how I prepared for my game, was to watch these guys go do battle in , in the Midwest. And so that was the big draw for me with Iowa. And it was, you know, a lot of family and friends, I'll be rooting for Iowa unless you play Ohio State kind of thing. I'm like, okay , you know, a lot of that. But it's, and , and everybody in Ohio is an Ohio State fan, you know, I, I kind of call their bluff a little bit because it's like, well, why don't you root for Cincinnati or Ohio or Akron? It's like, well, I'm from Ohio Root for Ohio State. There's a ton of schools in Ohio that you don't root for. So it's kind of a little bit of a bandwagon thing around here. But , um, great program, you know, great tradition , um, you know, all those things are a part of what makes and has made the Big 10 so great. And so it's still felt like going to Iowa. There was like, you know, you're, you're still connected to the , to these people back here and to this, you know, we're gonna play them and it's gonna be brought up in conversation. That was exciting for me. So I really liked that part of, you know, that was the difference. I had Miami, Ohio on my radar. The Mac had just been churning out quarterbacks at this time. There was kind of this allure to being a quarterback in the Mac . You had Big Ben, you had Chad Pennington, you had , um, a couple other guys that were on, on rosters in the NFL . So there was a , there was enough there to kind of be like, maybe I should go play quarterback in the Mac . Um, probably less of an obstacle to get on the field, but there was just this magic about the Big 10 to me, and that was the difference. And then being at Iowa, visiting there and then, you know, shaking Kirk Ferris's hand and kind of seeing the kind of man he was, it was like, alright , this is a no-brainer. I , I need to be a part of this program.
Collin Kushner:Ricky, you started three years at the University of Iowa in 2008, 1,956, passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns, nine picks, 2009, 2,417, passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, 15 picks in 2010, your final year, 3004 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns in six interceptions. What was so different for you individually in 2010 ?
Ricky Stanzi:So I spent, obviously 2009, I had a bit of an interception issue, <laugh> , if you asked anybody, it would be , um, I was, you know, I threw a man, I threw a handful of pick sixes. Um, I was just, I was like a gun slinger. I was just, I , I felt like I could put it in any window. Like I, I can get that there, you know, and then, ah , snakes like a little tighter than I thought. So I had a lot of confidence. Um, I felt good about what I was seeing, what I came to learn, you know, later on 2010 , 2011 was there was, there were things missing with my, my footwork, things missing with my release that just other guys were doing it much better, where my skills kind of maxed out in 2010. That was the best that I could put on the field at the time. In 2011, went searching to upgrade and kind of actually downgraded. But the 2010 year I had a , um, an assistant at Iowa. Um, he was an assistant offensive assistant. His name was David Ry . He had played quarterback , um, at, at Iowa behind Brad Banks. And very intelligent man, very understood the game very well. And he kind of sat me down in the off season . He was like, I , I , here's a plan to watch tape. Like I know you were watching tape and you're kind of, you know, you're learning, you're not just watching the game. Like, like mom or aunt or uncle will watch the game or they just watch the ball. You're starting to watch technique, you're starting to learn how to watch the game, but here's a way to kind of catalog it and track it. And so what we did was that off season I spent, and I had this huge binder where I went through each opponent and I watched like four or five games from each opponent of the previous year. And I literally tracked every single play. Like I just, I did the writing myself. I tracked what coverage they were in down in distance, just went through all the things that these offensive assistants, defensive assistants are doing for the coordinators and the head coaches during the week to make sure everything's in the computer system correctly. So I did that just as a practice, just to kind of understand the game a little bit more. And, and it made a huge difference in how I saw the game made a huge difference in kind of how I looked at AD coordinator, you know, I kind of saw, I saw them, how, how are they trying to call this thing? Like what is he thinking , um, on third and three versus third and seven? And that was stuff that maybe was brought to your attention and you talked about it. But the coaches are internalizing that information a much different way than I think the athletes are. And there's a chance there as a quarterback though, to where you almost have to have a foot in both camps. You have to think a little bit like a coach, and you have to think a little bit like a player. You can't lose that sort of moxie and that, you know, go forward attitude. But at the same time, you have to know the situation that you're in. And that was a big difference for me in 2009, 2010, is like, understand the situation, Rick, look a look around you, you know, you don't have to force this ball. There's an open guy here. We can take the profit and we can move the chains. And you know, looking back, these are things that Coach O'Keefe was always trying to tell them , tell me from 2006. I know that I'm stubborn, and so it takes a little time for me to kind of come around to these things. But I think that off-season study was a huge part of making a jump from nine to 10. And then there was an urgency. Like, I don't wanna be the guy that's in the media. Like, you know, you throw a lot of picks and you're that as a young man, that that bothers you, so you wanna work on your deficiencies. And so it was just a natural, like, work on our deficiencies. Um, I value the fact that I am able to throw an early pick six, a crucial pick six and bounce back. I think that goes back to what we talked about before. You know, goldfish, memory, the fight, adversity, all those things. Those were etched early on and I needed those things. When you're playing a Michigan or you're playing a Penn State or Wisconsin and it's not going your way, what are you gonna do? Okay, you threw a pick six. Well, there's, there's three quarters left. Like, are you gonna be the pick six guy, or are you gonna rally and bring these guys back? And so that was helpful in oh nine. It was a lot to learn from those situations. And we had a great year 2010, we didn't have as great of a year, but I found that growth and , you know, it was something that I've now been able to, to use in the coaching world. I'm now, you know, volunteer coaching at my high school and coaching quarterbacks. And a lot of those lessons that I learned on how to watch tape, I find myself telling my kids this stuff, you know, right now. So it, it's, it was a huge help in my growth, and it's been a big step, or, you know, a huge piece in , in me kind of helping the younger quarterbacks understand the game a little bit better.
Collin Kushner:I love the, the path of, of your career at Iowa because, and , and again, like the not, and not necessarily just going off the stats, but like understanding that like each year, like you grew a little bit more. And , and again, we're just talking individually and that's so cool that it, it finally all clicks. And isn't it crazy how sometimes like your coach or your parent or your friend can tell you the same thing over and over and over and over and over again, and then finally one day we're open to it, we listen, and then all of a sudden we're able to implement all that goodness into whatever it is that we're doing. Like, I think that to me was the coolest part about just listening to what you had to say about that season and how you're like, yeah, you know, he pulled me aside and, you know, we, we really kind of dove in and I was open to it, and then here we go.
Ricky Stanzi:Yeah. I think sometimes you just have to hear it from a different angle or, you know, I, I know you , you work with high school kids now, and I think there's a certain age where it's like, you know, dad can tell me nothing. And then you get to a point where you're like, dad knew everything. Like I've, I've gone through that phase and it , you know, when I was in high school and college, I was like, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. And then like, you get older, you have your own kids, and you're like,
Collin Kushner:Hmm , okay.
Ricky Stanzi:He was right. You know , it's like he was right. And I, I just think that's part of it. I think being stubborn and, and not listening is part of learning how to be a good listener and, and , and kind of seeing both sides of the coin. So it's , um, it's a growth process. Like I told you before, we, we hit record. I could not see the feel with a telescope as a freshman <laugh> . I mean, there was no chance, no chance, like there was. And if you would've told me my freshman year that I was gonna start for three years at this place, there's no way. So like I say that only to , if there's anybody listening that is in a point where they're like, they think that it can't turn around, it can like, it really can. And it's crazy. 'cause I had the same thing happen to me when I was in high school at Lake Catholic. I remember being in my dad's office my sophomore year, and I'd be like, dad, I'm not gonna play college football. You know, I'm not like, it's just not gonna work out for me. I'm more of a basketball player. I'm gonna take that route senior year, I'm going to Iowa to play football. Like, it just so you don't, so much changes. And I think you're so emotional as a young kid, you're not mature enough yet. I, I laugh with my friends about it. You think, you know, you're a senior in college or even your rookie year, your second year in the NFL , oh, you know, I'm mature. You don't know anything. Like even that second year in the NFL , you have no clue about life. You haven't really been thrust into the real world in any way, shape or form. You haven't started a family, you don't have any kids yet. You don't even own a home. Like you don't know land you don't like , you're just not anywhere and you think you're somewhere. But there's a lot to learn from that. And you, what I've realized is that thank goodness that I had a father that maybe it was just programming that I'm just saying what he's saying. I hadn't really lived it yet. But to have someone like my dad, to have someone like Coach O'Keefe, to have someone like Coach Ferentz , my strength coach, coach Doyle, my high school coach, Mike Bell, like to have these people where when there's a decision to be made or there's a behavior to bring out their faces and their, their ways of talking to you have to be there. You know, they show themselves a little bit. And that's important when you're trying to figure it out, is have something to lean back on because it's kind of a fake it till you make it scenario where you really learn who you are going through this sort of trial and error. You know, working your way through all these tough situations.
Collin Kushner:Well, nobody does it alone. I mean, when you think about like, just life as a whole, like, if you try and do it all yourself, it it's not, it's, it's not gonna work out very well. I mean, it's, it's gonna make everything more challenging. But if you open yourself up to, you know, mentorship, family, a friend, I, I always tell people like, mentorship is, is probably like one of the best parts of life, you know, whether it's personal, professional, because it all, it all comes together. I like, there are things that I've learned from professional mentors and broadcasting that like, I've been able to like, take into like my personal life. And it's, it's kind of interesting how it all comes full circle. But the , the one thing Ricky that, that i, I , I kind of want to hit on, was it , it sounds like you had a deep belief in yourself even when you were in your dad's office saying, I don't think I can play college football. There must have been something deeply rooted inside of you somewhere that kept you going.
Ricky Stanzi:I've joked with people before. I used this line the other day, <laugh> , when I was coaching my son's flag football game. And I tried to trick play and backfired, and I, I laughed to our assistant on the coach. I go, I'm just irrationally optimistic. Like my wife's joked with me about it, and I've always had this about me, it optimism. But I do think that an athlete, someone in that competitive arena, like I talked about Jim Zorn talking about you putting yourself out there for, for, you know, critique. There has to be an irrational optimism. You know, you have to think different in illogical to and to anything that anybody else would say about you. I mean, you go, and I was always, you know, influenced by Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Deion Sanders, these high level athletes, you know, high level men, just high level character and, and, and very , very good, you know, lessons to be learned from them. But if you listen the way they talk and the way that they think, you can't phase them. Like they think crazy, they think crazy, they think outside the box. They think above and beyond what you could ever imagine. And they don't limit themselves to what you are willing to limit yourself towards. And I think we can all learn from that. You know, we won't get to those levels maybe of a Tom Brady or a Dion Sanders, but shoot man, try to go there. You know, try to at least emulate those that have done well. Those that have done great. You know, success leaves a blueprint. And so I guess the only thing I can point back to for myself is that I was irrationally optimistic. You know, I , I really was. And in those moments, like, look, life's like this. It's ebbs and flows. It's ebbs and flows. I tell this to my, my, my high school quarterbacks, I'm like, thi this is a football game in high school. Okay, this is the game now. Your parents, the student section, that guy on the fence, they can ride that rollercoaster, but there's also another rollercoaster that's going on inside of that. And it's just a straight line. And you have to get on that train. You have to live on that train where it's just, Hey man, it's going up, it's going down. I don't care. I'm going easy and I'm going right through it. And I'm handling those ups and downs by when you score a touchdown, yeah, there's a little bit of natural celebration, but you don't let it take you out of a place where you're not grounded. Same thing could be said if you strike adversity and you throw that pick six, don't let it keep you down in the depths where you're not able to throw that touchdown on the next series. So I think a combination of that, like, Hey, man, your dad's telling you there's gonna be adversity. You're seeing it. Stay optimistic. That was, I think the, the core, the nucleus of fighting through tougher situations and, and still finding a way to have success. And then also knowing I've got an army around me. I've got good people around me. I've, I've made good decisions in a sense that you put yourself at, at Iowa. It's a great university. There's, there's great teammates and great coaches. You don't have to do it on your own. Rely on these guys, right? Lean on them a little bit. Like they're going to lean on you in certain instances. And that's how you build culture and you become a good teammate and all those things start to work out for you.
Collin Kushner:Ricky, you famously said, if you don't love it, leave it after beating Georgia Tech in the 2010 Orange Bowl. How has that quote applied in other areas of your life?
Ricky Stanzi:The high level overview of how you could use that for, for a regular, you know, day-to-day interaction or that competitive arena is that like, be there, be present, let it rip, you know, play fast, play free, play together. Don't hold anything back. You know, love this opportunity right in front of you, or just turn around and walk away. You know, you can go sit in the stands if you want if you cross these white lines. You have to be in love with everything that can happen on that field. You have to love the adversity, you have to love the good stuff. You have to love the bad stuff. You have to be okay with the fact that, like Jim Zorn said, you're putting yourself in the arena to critique, and you've gotta be okay with that. If not, you gotta get out of there. And that only becomes more real as you go up in the ranks. Like you get closer to playoff high school football, it's intense. You get to college football, it's more intense than that. Then you get to the pros and it's like, dude, if you don't really love this, you gotta get outta here because you'll be exposed. And you could take that into many different arenas, whether it's being a father or running a podcast. If you're not all in on the small details, then you're eventually gonna fall away from it and it's not gonna be something that's important to you.
Collin Kushner:And that's kind of why I wanted to talk about that quote with you. Not necessarily in the context of of football, but just in life. 'cause it , like you just said, it , it does, it does apply in other areas. And that's kind of what clicked in my mind when <laugh> when I went back and replayed that on YouTube. I'm like, wait a second. Like here, this is kind of, this is kind of a life, a life lesson, but right now it's in the context of football. You're all, you're all fired up after, you know, winning the Orange Bowl. And so I think it was really cool though, like how you kind of describe that and how, how it , how it can apply to your life. 'cause it's true. If you're not working on those small details and you don't fully love it, then like, what, then what the heck are you doing?
Ricky Stanzi:Mm-Hmm, <affirmative> . Mm-Hmm <affirmative> . And I think that that can at least give you perspective. And look, if you're in something that you don't love, that's okay, but at least be aware of it and you won't be aware of it if you don't kind of put it in that context. Like, am I here? Am I present? Do I love what I'm doing? Am I all in with this? Or is this something where it's like, dude, if it was gone tomorrow, you'd be like, Hmm , that's okay. I'm not too worried about it. You know? And it's like that's kind of that relationship or that perspective that you'd like to have for something, especially as you get older, you know, you start to make more concentrated decisions the older you get. I know as you know, just starting a family and all those things, like all the noise and the nonsense just goes away. You're not worried about anything that's not important anymore. And you're really focused on the things that you love and that you have a passion for. And if you can do that at a younger age, the more power to you. And it probably can, you know, help you find your passion earlier. Um, and, and really find that, that joy of really waking up every day and attacking something that you love.
Collin Kushner:You know, it's so interesting because now I'm 32 and so I think for, for a a lot of years of my life, it was just, just doing things, kind of just saying yes, just yes to everything. Like, yeah, I'll do that without, without really any like, conscious thinking. Like, what do you , do you want to go to dinner here? Sure. And then now I think I've done a lot of work on like, wait a second take, take a quick second, like pause, take a little time out . Like, is this something like you'd really want to do? Does hanging out with this person, does it really serve you? Like, like, or are you just trying to get away from, from your own thoughts? And so it's been like the most, probably like one of the most beautiful journeys ever because it's changed , it's changed my life. Like there's more energy to kind of put back into, into Collins basket on how I can show up for the things that matter, you know, my brother, my girlfriend, family and all that good stuff. So it's, it's fascinating, like if you can get that awareness, like what can happen to your life,
Ricky Stanzi:Yeah. I mean, you compartmentalize and you get rid of distractions. I think young kids right now are so distracted. We all were, I think that young kids today have more to deal with because of social media. Thankfully we didn't really, it wasn't a thing or at least big enough thing at the time when I was young to distract you. Um, you know, we had our PlayStations and our game boys and stuff like that, but nowhere near the degree of distraction that the young kids are dealing with today. And so I think that if you can kind of find what you love, and I had a strength coach at the Chiefs that talked about this steel trap , you know, mind. And it's almost like magneto with the X-Men where he would put that helmet on. So, you know, professor X couldn't read his thoughts. And, and , and that's uh , sort of an , an imagery for this idea of like, as you go on and you find what you love, you gotta kind of put that magneto helmet on a little bit and you gotta block out something because there's gonna be distractions. I don't care what you're doing or where you are, and they'll come in various forms, but the more that you can focus during the day on what you're trying to get done and not waste time , uh, that'd be the ideal scenario. And you have to have that like sort of internal dialogue on, well, what do I love? What do I want to do? And then like you said, take note on is this serving me? Is this something I love doing? If not, maybe you have to make a tough decision about it and move on from it. And those things all start with awareness and it really kind of starts with awareness on what I do and what I do not want to become. And, and that's a tough decision or discussion at times. But the other side of that is growth. And that's what we're all trying to do and what we're all striving for at the end of the day.
Collin Kushner:I don't know if, if this is like kind of similar for you, but like I, I feel like if you don't take the time to become aware, the noise just gets louder and louder and louder and louder to a point where like, you don't even, like, you think you're going crazy to, to some degree. Like I think everyone has a choice to dive into it. I think it can get a little like challenging and scary sometimes when you like think about like, well, dude , is this kind of diving into like the , the ins and outs and the roots, the roots of your life. I know for, from my perspective, for a long time I was like, ah , screw this. Let's just run a hundred miles an hour. Let's run through walls. Let's see, <laugh> , let's see what happens then you just get tired. Like you're just tired. And I think, at least from my perspective, I just didn't want to be tired anymore. And I started like having a better understanding of all these little decisions and, and not stopping , uh, you know, or just, just sapping the gas tank, man.
Ricky Stanzi:Yeah. It's like, it's like burning the candle at both ends. You know, I kind of, I think we, I know I did that for, for years on end. It it , it feels like when you're in your youth , um, you don't really, you're not, you don't have that cornerstone quite yet. And I think for me, a huge part of that has been, you know, raising a family. I think that's given me so much perspective , um, kind of getting renewed in my faith in those types of things. Being around family, being around my church more , um, kind of getting my feet underneath me a little bit and, and seeing what's important. Seeing what's not important. You know, doing a , hitting the refresh button on perspective. I think every five years is maybe a good idea for everyone. And I think we all sort of naturally do that. Um, maybe some don't, I, I don't know. I just feel like every five years I look back and I go, man, I had no clue. You know, I was way off, you think. And then, you know, five years from now I'll look back today and be like, there's a lot you were missing. So I think that's, that's the idea. I , I think the white belt mentality has served me well. It's served others well. It's something that , um, it's hard to do 'cause you gotta quiet down your ego. You gotta calm your ego down. And it's natural sort of knee jerk reaction to push away anything that's about to expose it. Um, and I had, like I said, I've had the, the opportunity to be around a lot of really good coaches that had a lot of really good insight. There's really two types of people. There's people that look out the window and there's people that look in the mirror. He's like, the people that look out the window are looking for people to blame. They're looking for someone else to point the finger at the people that look in the mirror, the finger points right back at them. And they're always starting with the person in the mirror when it comes to corrections. And that is something that I have like wholeheartedly tried to bring in use and then tell other people about because it's just such an impactful, and I feel like if you're, if you're using that lens, that filter to interact on the day to day , there's of course gonna be situations where you're like, man, that's outta my control. But if you take that irrational sort of look at it like, how can I fix myself? How can I fix you? Keep the focus there. But I think that's the, the idea is that you have some sort of like, okay, where are we going with this blame? Like, am I gonna deflect this and put this somewhere else, or am I gonna take it because that's where I can get the growth. Like if I'm the issue, then I have to fix myself. If someone else is the issue, it's easy, dude , I get to sit back in the lawn chair, they gotta fix, dude, fix that. No, find out what you did wrong and then go ahead and fix that and just keep chopping wood that way.
Collin Kushner:Do the lines ever feel blurred to you though? Like, have there ever been moments in your life where you're like , I don't know if this is, you have, you're starting to gain that awareness, but then you second guess you're like, well, I don't know if this is actually me or if this is the other person has that, have you ever run into that obstacle
Ricky Stanzi:Before? I mean, there's, you know, there's times I , I guess yes. I mean, when I was in the NFL , um, it was a real, like, it was, it was both extremely rewarding and gratifying to be there, but also extremely frustrating to not grow as a player and not improve when I was putting so much effort into improving. And that was a , a wrestle for me. Like I was being, you know, fired, essentially cut, you know, multiple times throughout my career. And those are really tough days to go through. But I, as I, as I went on in my life and kind of look back at those moments, like I realized I was, I deserve to be cut because of a skillset that was lacking. Um, and there's, I think you wrestle with that at the moment where you're like, ah , like, you know, you wanna blame a GM or you wanna blame a head coach. And I was always one who was like, it's nobody else's fault but my fault. It's nobody else's fault but my fault. But you're wrestling with those situations. 'cause of course, your parents, your friends, your family, oh, this coach is dumb, he should do this, he should do that. So you're hearing that on one side, but I'm looking in the mirror and I'm like, dude, you're not playing that well. You're not, you're not playing good enough to be a starting quarterback in this league. And I'd argue you're not playing good enough to be a reliable backup, so you need to find something that you can improve and get better at. So I had a sense of urgency of like, dude, you're doing, you're doing it wrong. Find a way to do it. Right. So, you know, kind of going back to what my father would teach me when I was young is like, don't blame anybody. He was big on that. Stop blaming people. Don't point your finger at anybody but yourself. So that was etched in early, confirmed in the middle at Iowa. And then I needed to kind of pull it outta my backpack on my own as I got older, you know, as the stakes get higher , um, there's more noise in the room and it's tough. Like, it was a very challenging time for me to go through that and be like, dude, you know, you're going back home. You just got done with a season and it didn't go well and you gotta , you know, you're gonna meet family and friends again and they're gonna ask you about how your career is going. Like, it was just fired for the third time. What do you mean, how my career's going? You know, it's like, and so that was tough, but it was great learning and I learned so much about my own character and kind of, you know, where to go with your emotions during those times. So I think for me, it's, it's been something that was early on in my life that was instilled. Um, and like I said, just confirmed and then able to kind of shine through on my own. And probably the most adverse times I'd been through, which was, you know, in the NFLI
Collin Kushner:Had Kellen Clemens on the pod a while back, and he said that Chad Pennington pulled 'em aside during their time at the Jets and said, this is what you do it , it's not who you are. Um, when you, like, when you think about like , this is what you do or this is what you do, this is not who you are. Like were , was it challenging for you to balance that or to separate the two, especially when you're in the NFL and you know, things aren't going well. Like, like what was that like?
Ricky Stanzi:It's very challenging. And then Chad Pennington is a guy who has an extreme amount of wisdom and he is very well spoken and he's done a great job of bringing the younger quarterbacks underneath his wing and, and helping them with that perspective. And I think Chad probably really had to go through some stuff, you know, when he, when he blew out his shoulder and I mean this guy was top notch coming outta Marshall. I mean , he has this terrible arm injury and then you're trying to battle through that. So I'm sure he's someone that has learned a lot and gained a lot of perspective I from those situations. But , um, it's tough because like I said, you go back home to all your friends and family, this is now your identity. You're the football player. Like you've been the football player since grade school, you were the football player in high school, you're a football player in college, now you're into your late twenties pushing into your thirties. You're still the football player. So like, whether you like it or not, those around you, those that you consistently interact with are going to look at you through that identity, through that lens. So you're always wrestling with that. And I, and I don't think that you maybe gain the perspective, you know, I can only speak for myself, but I think I gained the perspective slowly over time , um, near the end, out of just necessity and based on how my career was going. You know, like as I'm going through the professional leagues, I'm, I'm, you know, working in the NFL and then I'm in the CFL and as I'm going through that, like I'm playing less and less football because if you're a backup to starters get all the time. So the game feels different than it did in college, in high school, in grade school because you're the guy at that time now you're not the guy, you're just, it's just a job at this point. So I guess in a sense I was able to have a healthy sort of letdown of football and I felt very at ease with the game being done when it was done. Like I had, I was like, see you later. Peace. I'm out. Like so happy. It was over like almost elated that it was okay. You, you did it, you saw it through to the end. I said I wanted to do these things. Um, you know, even near the end when I went to the CFL, I'm gonna give this two more years. I'm gonna see how this works. If something happens, great. If it doesn't, what's the difference? You've been getting cut and fired the last, you know, however many years. So what, give it a , give it one more rip. You know, that's how you're built. So once I was cut that, you know, at the end there in the CFL there, I had guessed I had already prepared myself for that. Another helpful thing was from 2011 until today was a slow ramp up of me continually studying biomechanics, human movement, my passion just naturally started to go from football's always gonna be a passion. But there was this new like bud and this new plant that was flowering over here that I had never had in my life a second passion, something else that I could distract myself from as this flower is withering and dying. And it's like, it looks like keep watering it, keep trying, but you're probably gonna lose it. That's okay. This one's here. It's ready for your attention. Go give it your focus. So I think that also helped me deal with this identity because I was now developing a new identity. I was becoming a teacher, I was becoming a coach. I didn't realize it at the time 'cause I wa didn't have anybody to coach or teach, but it's now my job in my profession. But it was a slow growth towards that, which made it a lot easier to let this thing that had been there since man second grade, it was kind of easier to let it go once it was time. And it's been, you know, three decades essentially of your life that you're dedicating towards this one thing. So I can see why a lot of players have a tr have trouble with it. I had a unique situation where I was kind of able to let it down easy.
Collin Kushner:And that's why your story's so interesting because of that kind of like, you're here, here, here, you're at the top. Then it kind of slowly, you know, ramps down. And during that process, I mean, you're, you're already getting involved in biomechanics and, and finding a , a love for that. And this is, this is honestly the perfect transition today. You're the director of education at goda and co-owner of GLS Goda. GODA stands for greatest of all Time Actions. And the goal is to optimize your movement for pain-free peak performance. Why did this become so interesting to you? I mean,
Ricky Stanzi:It really goes back to 2010, 2010, 11 going into the draft process. Like I said, I, I had kind of sharpened, you know, the sword as best I could mentally for the game, but I'm still looking at myself on tape and I'm like, dude, your feet and your arm speed and your your arm angles, you , you , you don't look as good as the other guys. There was something visual there that like, I'm not doing something, something Rogers is doing. Brady's doing all these pros at the time, they had quicker releases, they, they had a better base position. All these things that now make sense to me, I was in search of in 2011, so my thirst for biomechanic knowledge, movement knowledge came out of a place of necessity to stay on the field and to produce. And then it slowly just kind of branched out to what's really going on here. Like what , what, what , what am I, what am I missing from a movement perspective , um, that might be bigger than just, you know, how my quarterback stance looks or my throwing motion. And as I went through that process from really 2011 to 20 18, 20 19, when I first saw Goda on Instagram, I was unknowingly going through this sort of process of, as I call it now, emptying the cup. So we all sort of have these cups that are full of what we would call preconceived notions, things we think we know. And I felt that way about human performance. Of course, I know what to do, you know, I've been an athlete, I've been training my body for x amount of years, I've had the best trainers, yada yada, I know what the truth is, I got it. But as I was challenging the truth unknowingly because I was looking for ways to improve, I kind of, at least I slapped the book down on the table and I was like, you're throwing motion. Let's go look at it. And it was like uncomfortable to do. But as I'm looking at it, I'm kind of looking around at things that are supposed to make me better at this and they're all failing. So each year was a little bit of like, that doesn't work. Yeah , that doesn't work. And so by process of elimination, looking at not only, you know, western sort of , um, you know, doctrine or philosophy on movement that we're comfortable with strength and conditioning as we know it today, bodybuilding techniques, calisthenics , um, you know, movement culture that's just started to bud in the last decade or so. But then also looking at eastern art, going back and looking at martial arts, looking at the shain monks, looking at yoga, looking at, you know, this isn't really an eastern art, but it sort of gets lumped into that world. Pilates, breath work . All those things were around the table for me during that eight year stretch of trying to improve my performance as a professional athlete. And I knew that in that pursuit, I go, whether this knowledge breaks through for me here in this moment, and I actually get to get on the field and change what I've been looking at on tape that I want to change, or it's something that I move on from football, but continue this knowledge. And then I can give this back to the younger generation. I looked at it as like, dude, this thirst for knowledge, this passion, it's gonna end up as a win-win, whether it's for me or even better if I can give this back to young kids, to family members, friends. So let's just keep attacking it. And that was the mentality for those eight years is just keep reading books. I don't even know what I'm looking at. Don't even know where I'm going with it. Just let the next book, the next clue take you to the next thing. And just almost, I felt like for those eight years I felt like I was just being guided to it . I, I really felt like there was a faith thing to it. I was like, I'm just going to follow this. Each clue. Like I remember one of the big books that was a huge breakthrough for me that led me to Spinal Engine Theory, which led me to Goda , was this book, I was just poking around on Amazon one night and it was like, just scrolled. And it was like, you like this, you might like this. And I click it, it's like 60 bucks. I'm like, man, do I wanna spend 60 bucks? I'm like, Rick, get it. Just read the book. And so I got it and that book was just like boom, punch the doors down. It was Mussel and Meridians by Philip Beach . And I've, I mean, I tipped my cap to Philip Beach . I've never met him. I'd shake his hand, give him a big hug if I could, because just the way he put this thing together really helped me go, you know, maybe we don't know, maybe there is more questions that need to be asked. That led me to Goda . And what was so intriguing about Goda was that it was two, two people down in New Orleans. It was Jose Bosch, we called him Coach Gilly . He was the founder. And there was Gary Scheffler, who was really the strength and conditioning side of this. Gilly was the open-minded free thinker that was able to observe this pattern. Gilly used sort of being on the outside of the industry. That's where the real growth comes. So when you see like an industry get disrupted, it's not from inside the industry because everybody's comfortable inside the industry. Usually it's from somebody on the outside. Gilly was that someone on the outside? He had made his, he had made his money being successful as an entrepreneur. So he was in search of answers for his own back. They were ready to cage his spine, his lumbar, 'cause he had throat blown out three levels of his, his lumbar spine. They were ready to cage it. So he was looking for answers. He was a golfer. He's like, we use slow motion video to discern the best movement patterns in golf. Why don't I use slow motion video to look at the world's most durable humans and see if maybe they're doing something different with their body than I'm doing with my body. And that's kind of where it all starts is let's use this new slow motion capabilities that we're starting to get. 'cause the iPad's coming out, the iPhone is in your back pocket. You now have the ability to have slow motion video capabilities inside of the palm of your hand in this library of video from social media is only expanding and the quality of video is only getting clearer. So Gilly was kind of looking out into the front of it and saying, everybody is getting more injured as a society, right? Hip replacements, shoulder replacements, back knees, all that stuff is on the rise. Non-contact injuries, acls , um, Achilles, there's a laundry list. Those are the big two. Those are increasing. And the age, the average age is getting lower and lower. So we're seeing this happen in younger and younger kids. So Gilly was kind of looking at the stats on it and saying, dude, we're getting more injured. We have this idea that we're at the best we've ever been because the technology is so great and our nutrition is, is is through the roof, but why are the injuries so high? So the questions really started there. And then when I met Gill and Gary, the greatest thing about them was that they pushed me to ask to look. They didn't just tell me what to think. They were like, go look here, go look here. Go look at these examples and think about this. Think about this movement pattern and this will show you why there's such a deficiency. And then it was realized when I looked at myself moving and I was like, oh, you have the symptoms of inefficiency, so of course your throw isn't where it needs to be. You . It could never be until you clean up these inefficiencies. And so that was what really drew me to go to . But it was a long time coming, just kind of pouring out that cup and, and searching for answers.
Collin Kushner:Ricky, do you think the inefficiencies that we have today are, are those due to like the way that society views fitness? Like, hey, you're gonna Olympic lift, then you're gonna deadlift, then you're gonna go do a hundred meter sprint. Like is that, is that type of fitness why we have those quote unquote inefficiencies today and like why we are seeing like an uptick in injuries?
Ricky Stanzi:Yes, I would. I would argue that it's a big part of that. Not the only part of it, but a big part of it. We also have an issue with the way that we rest. So modern rest has taken liking to the table in the chair, right? It's where we work, it's where we sit, it's where we talk. We spend hours on end. In this chair, the book that I quoted, muscles and Meridians by Philip Beach , his theory was that terrestrial animals are meant to rest on the ground. So he talks about movement and rest being flip sides of the same coin, like left and right. You can't have one without the other. Movement implies rest. Rest implies movement. So what he was trying to show us was that these shapes that you see in the resting world, they keep the subsequent movement that will follow tuned. So like a guitar always being tuned and ready to play, your system should always be tuned and ready to play. And it's doing that by how you're just chilling on the ground and resting. It's keeping your lower back and your hips and your ankles in a type of alignment, in a type of, you know, relationship where they're not gonna fall apart. When the movement comes. After we've ruined that, now we sit in these chairs, we, we sit at the table that changes the positions and the postures, which then changes the movement after. But for the training world, the biggest issue that I would say, and this is kind of where we frame things for people, is when you look at the other systems of the body, we have a very specific way that we catalog, diagnose and treat them. So for instance, your cardiovascular system, they will see that as an integrated system that moves in a cycle and it moves something in a cycle, right? As I say, cardiovascular system, what pops into your mind? You see the veins, you see the highway, you see the heart, you see the blood pumping through it. If I were to say digestive system, same thing. You see the whole system, you see how it's integrated, you see how it moves the food in moves the food out, pulmonary or respiratory system, you see the whole system, you see it as a cycle. Air moves in, air moves out. So there's a cycle and then there's something that's being moved on that cycle or during that cycle. And that cycle has phases. With the musculoskeletal system, they didn't do this, so they didn't find, as we would say, the healthy blood pressure. Instead they took a cadaver science approach. So they took this musculoskeletal system, they took a dead version of it, laid it on a table, started cutting it up and saying, this is this, this is the gluteus maximus, this is the bicep, this is that. And then as far as the movement of the system goes, somebody else, some doctor's moving that foot, that dead body on a table and he's going off of each plane of movement. So sagittal, frontal, transverse, the three planes of movement, they're moving it themselves and then cataloging these ranges of motion. Then they took that catalog and they said, take it to your plan of fitness, take it to your gym, train all those ranges of motion, use weight to make them stronger. And then you'll be ready to go and move and you'll be the best version of yourself. Well, that completely misses how systems work inside the body. They work in a cycle. They have specific phases and they move something inside of that cycle. The musculoskeletal systems cycle is the walk. It's our forward gear. So we're designed to move forward through space. We got a rear wheel drive suspension system. You got this Achilles tendon, you got this larger lower limb for a reason. Eyes in the front, big muscles in the back, rear wheel drive, spring loaded , Achilles. We're going forward through space. Everybody knows that the leg cycles, right, the leg cycles when you walk, that cycle is actually and should be repetitive now. It is repetitive no matter who you are. The question then becomes, is it a good repetition or a bad repetition? Because how many cycles are you gonna get in a day? Thousands upon thousands of forward cycles in your walk, which then gets turned up like a volume dial to a jog, a run, a throw, a swing, a strike, a cut, juke and jump. So everything that we see as sports boils back down to just this basic forward moving cycle. The problem we have is that our rest has been hijacked, but also our training has been hijacked. That's the idea with Goda is that we're saying we missed we're we, we're , we're sorry we missed. But we, you know, the, the industry as a whole, the way we're training, I'm sorry, but it's processed food, you know, we're now waking up to like, yeah, it's easy, it's accessible, you can get it quickly and you can get sort of a quick little high from, you know, eating that type of food. You can get that muscle to pop a little bit more. And like the mirror looks a little different, but the long-term effects of processed food are not good. We're trying to show people the long-term effects of some of this stuff that we're doing in the gym based off the slow motion video. We can't hold , it won't hold up. And because of that, that's why you see an increase in injury and joint replacements.
Collin Kushner:The passion that that I, that I hear and feel man is as you talk about this in some ways, I feel like you get more fired up about what you're doing now than, you know, slinging the football around. And that's really cool to just to, to hear and and to see like as, as we're taping this podcast, I guess with, with the go to system, like my question is like, you're an athlete, right? Like I was a hockey goalie and like you want to work, you wanna be flexible, you want to , you know, have explosive power as you're moving across the crease, like with the go to system. Like if you're not, if you're staying away from like those Olympic lifts and those kettlebell swings and those sprints and like those, like more explosive movements like within the system, like are you, are there moves and exercises that would emulate that to better suit how you move as a hockey player? I I, I don't know if that question makes sense
Ricky Stanzi:What you're saying, like you, I think that's, and that's a normal sort of deduction and , and in a normal question that we get when we propose what I just proposed a second ago and what's important to realize is that strength isn't bottled up in these specific lifts, right? You could get stronger doing a pushup, you could get stronger doing a pull up . You could get stronger at anything that you're working at. So strength is relative to the task. My point being like if your deadlift is getting bigger, then your deadlift is getting bigger. You know that that the strength of that task , um, you're now accomplishing. But the question you have to ask is the strength and the deadlift or the strength in the Olympic lift, does it transfer to forward movement? And that's where we kind of take a deep dive into forward versus reverse. So we talk about the analogy of a car. A car is clearly designed to go forward, right? It's all designed for drive gear , but it's nice that you have the reverse gear, right? So you can back outta the driveway, you can back outta the parking spot, you use your reverse gear. But at the end of the day, if you were to look at your driving log, man, 98, 90 9% of the the time you'd have to be in drive gear. But you do use your reverse. Our bodies we argue are similar. We are built for drive gear, we're built for walk, jog , run, throw, swing, strike, cut, juke jump. We do have a reverse gear. That reverse gear is your lifting engine. So when you stop, you put that spring, you turn that spring into a shovel. So you're built to be heels up going forward. Now you drop the heels into the ground, you essentially become a shovel for a second and that's okay 'cause you wanna pick this resource up off the ground and you want to take it with you somewhere else. So we're built off of sort of a hunter-gatherer mold where we're walk, jog, run, throw, swing strike, dead body on the ground, dead animal on the ground, one lifting rep, pick it up, go back into that walk in that jog. What's changed in the lift in the, in the training world is that the lifting is the showcase. So it's all about lift, lift, lift, lift, lift . When you look at the pattern of injury, it resembles the lifting pattern in the gym. And so what we're trying to show people is, yeah, you're getting stronger at your lift, but your lift's got nothing to do with your drive gear. You're trying to go 70 miles an hour on the highway in reverse and you're wondering why your car is getting in a wreck. It's because it's built to go forward. Just turn around and you can see clearly out the front windshield. So what we're trying to show people is yes, we can get strength, yes we can get speed, yes we can get endurance and all those things, but we want to make sure they're happening throughout the system in a pattern that will keep the tissue, that will keep the joint segments healthy. And so we can level up strength, speed and endurance, but we put durability in front of it. And what's interesting is if something is durable, you're already implying that it's strong and that it has endurance, but you can have strength and endurance and then fall apart, right? You could have a fragile sort of strength where it doesn't last, it just breaks down. So we focus on durability and that's made all the difference in how we've kind of changed the way people move and feel about their bodies is we kind of progress them through our system.
Collin Kushner:It's interesting like when you kind of bring up the durability part, 'cause if you have the other aspects but you don't have that, you literally don't have, you don't have anything at all <laugh> , you have nothing . You literally ,
Ricky Stanzi:The best ability is availability. And you've heard it in the hockey world, you know it. You've seen next man up, I've seen next man up. And it's funny because if there's anything that you should be aiming for as a gen pop or as an athlete is like, just don't get hurt. Just do your best to limit the injury. And I think there is a camp of people that think dude injuries are coming , just deal with it . I call, I call BSS on that. I call total bss. There's obviously contact injuries, but the injuries that we're talking about are these nonsensical things that happen to us that we have no answer for. Like we talked about with your back. Where does that come from? What is that? Was that that doesn't, you should deal with that, just suck it up. No. Why is that happening? It doesn't make any sense. As you look at the high level overview of human systems and what they're built for and how we're so resilient. If we're so resilient, then why does my back uh, pop out? Like why does my back spasm that ? That makes zero sense. So there's a lot of questions that need to be asked there, but I think durability is the lens that you want to attack this thing through. And by us doing that, we've really developed a system that's changing how people look at the way that they want to train their body and train their athletes' bodies.
Collin Kushner:How do we break through like the i this idea that society has of, of what fitness should look like and what you should look like, you know, working out. Because I, I think that's a challenging piece too. I even, I honestly kind of just fell into that trap when I asked you, well if I use this system, how am I gonna have that explosive, you know , movement? So in a sense I kind of accidentally fall into that bucket, but I feel like there's such like a stranglehold on, you have to have giant arms and giant legs and a big chest. And I've actually slowly started to unwind outta that 'cause I just want be able to move and that's why I'm so, it's crazy how we're having this conversation now. 'cause I was just telling my girlfriend like, I just want to be able to move like pain-free. Like I want to be fit. But it's kind of like, it's kind of like the processed food thing. You like, I want to put good stuff in, I wanna be able to move. Well I don't want to just be like keeled over, you know, 'cause I'm, because of the way that I've been treating my body. So well
Ricky Stanzi:What I would say is our system kind of gives you this outlook. This is what we're, we're talking about when it comes to our progression through the sort of process of rehabbing you. But then also knowing like you're saying, hey, I do have to have strength and I do have to have speed and I do have to have endurance in some capacity. Maybe other folks have to need have to have it more. But we should all have the capabilities to move freely. So what we do is we progress you from all fours to a single leg. So we essentially go back to child development type of process and we, as we call them pivot points, meaning the points of contact in the ground. So if you think about your forward movement in your day-to-day, you really only get one pivot point. There's one point of contact in the ground, the other leg is resetting. So at some point, all your body weight and all your pressure is in that one pivot point. When we wanna rehabilitate the way that is going down, we will actually regress to more pivot points. So you start with all fours, you have six points of contact. You got your hands, your kneecaps and your feet. It's a lot easier to disperse your body weight and it's a lot easier to realign your system. So we start there and we build sort of a vocabulary and sort of some, some alignment cues and trademarks that we're looking for. And they don't really change. We just create varieties. But we start to remove pivot points as we are removing pivot points and challenging some of these trademarks that we talk about of durability. You are going to feel yourself get stronger in the spots that you were meant to be stronger. So your lower back should feel like it, it , it blows up and get stronger. Your your backside outside tissue, your chest should broaden. Your shoulders will start to get big. So there's a natural aesthetic that you're gonna get from training the body in a natural way. As we go through that progression, we eventually get to performance exercises. So we have our version of the hang clean , we have our version of the deadlift, we have our version of the big moments of max neural drive, as we would say, inside of our routine. We just make sure that when we're using that weight, 'cause it's not the weight that's the issue, it's the pattern inside my foot, ankle, hip, that's the issue. And so there's some truth to too much weight is kind of diminishing returns. Anybody that's spent time being a power lifter has been hurt. So if you're going to pursue that avenue of lifting more and more weight, you know that an injury is coming at some point. We've for some reason taken that mode and said, let's give it to Saquon Barkley, let's do this in the NFL . It's like those aren't the same skill sets , the same reason that the strong men aren't doing, you know, ladder drills and cone juke drills to get ready for their , for their sort of strongman competition is the same reason that, you know, our running backs and , and cutting athletes shouldn't be doing this heels down heavy lifting. So we have ways to build strength, to build endurance, to build power. They aren't your typical exercises that you're used to. So it does take some time to kind of like wrap your head around what you're doing, but go to one of those systems where like, just get in there and feel it. Just start feeling what it's doing for your body. Notice how you feel different. And then that's kind of the selling point for you is that you get in there, you feel and you're like, okay, I know what I felt like after I did deadlifts in Olympic lifts and burpees. Now just weigh it against how you feel when you do go to work. And when people get that, once you get to that point, then it becomes, oh, I see what this guy's talking about. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go this route. 'cause it feels better.
Collin Kushner:Ricky, do you feel fulfilled today?
Ricky Stanzi:Yeah, for sure. You know, obviously what we've just been talking about, having a passion for what you do is, is I think crucial. Um, it doesn't feel like work, you know, it feels like just teaching and coaching, which is really cool, is what I love to do about a subject that I'm extremely interested in consistently. I don't fall away from interest in this thing. I'm always looking at it. And then on the other side of it, you know, socially I have four kids, you know, on 8, 6, 4 and a four month old , um, married, you know, I'm a stones throw away from my church, my in-laws and my parents are 15 minutes away. Um, you know, all those things make me say yes to the fulfilled thing. You know, it's just kind of very cool to, especially when I was in the NFL, it's just, it's so erratic. You're in one city one year, you're in another city. The next year you're away from family, you're starting your own family, but you're away from family and it's hard to get grounded and kind of really like, and I've been since 2017, we've been back home in Cleveland and each year has just been more and more like kind of etching yourself back into the community in various ways. And it's been extremely fulfilling to be back home, to be around family, to grow my own family, to grow a business, and then to kind of give back to my community by, you know, coaching in various opportunities. Um, it's, it's really helped me gain perspective and, and be very grateful for, for all the opportunities that I had early on in my life.
Collin Kushner:Ricky Stanzi, the movement Doctor, appreciate the time, man.
Ricky Stanzi:Thanks for having me, Colin . I appreciate it.